Later this year, a former Allsvenskan football player will be brought to justice for having taken a yellow card on purpose in an Allsvenskan match in 2019.
In the same trial, two former national team players in futsal will be brought to justice for having manipulated a number of matches at a lower level during the same year.
"Reason to take a closer look at it"
Even the following year, 2020, Swedish football matches may have been fixed.
SVT Sport can now report that the Swedish Football Association during the year flagged no less than 22 matches as suspects.
- And then it's not just about it being supporters who suspected something and heard from us, but when it comes to these matches, there has been something that made us initially see something that made us feel that there was a basis for to take a closer look at it, says Johan Claesson, integrity officer at the Swedish Football Association, and the person who is responsible for the work against match-fixing at the association.
Fewer than 2019
Of the 22 matches, which have been played at both the elite level and further down the league system, eight are on the upper part of the league's suspicion scale, which falls into four different categories.
22 matches is a clear decrease from the year 2019, when as many as 47 matches (of which 19 on the upper part of the suspicion scale) were suspected of match-fixing.
- But we think it is linked to the pandemic, last year we can almost count down when it comes to comparisons.
In part, single series were played in divisions 2 and 3, which are normally quite burdened when it comes to this type of problem.
In addition, there was no game at all in the U21 series, which also usually has a big match-fixing problem, says Claesson, and continues:
- And usually we are quite alone in having matches, but in 2020 both the Premier League and other series played well into the summer.
In addition, there has been no audience, and thus not as easy for match fixers to enter the arenas and monitor and keep track of the players.
- In addition, match-fixing has a clear international connection, and the clear travel restrictions have made it more difficult for criminals to travel.
"Steady increase"
Despite the fact that the number of suspected matches in 2020 was fewer than in previous years, Johan Claesson does not see a reduction in tips about fixed matches in Swedish football.
- There is a continued steady increase in tips from the football movement, so hopefully they have realized that this is important, he says.
- So we can not rule out that the preventive work we have done to some extent has begun to bear fruit.